Hindi
Reliance Entertainment sells rights of 3 films to Japan
MUMBAI: In a move that breaks the long impasse of any Indian film releasing in Japan in a big way, Reliance Entertainment has sold the distribution rights of 3 Idiots, Don 2 and Makkhi for their International release in Japan. This deal was inked at the Mumbai Film Mart held in 2012 under the aegis of Mumbai Film Festival.
The release of India‘s highest grossing film may well mark the opening up of Japan as a significant territory in the international distribution of Hindi movies.
Japan‘s oldest production and distribution company Nikkatsu will release the first two films in Japan in summer this year and Unplugged Inc. will release the animated creature film in autumn. The Aamir Khan-starrer will see the widest ever release for a Hindi movie in Japan on 18 May in approximately 50 screens.
Commented Reliance Entertainment, CEO, Sanjeev Lamba, "Reliance Entertainment broke fresh ground in the international markets with a tie-up with Nikkatsu- Japan‘s oldest & century old movie studio. Nikkatsu will release Reliance Entertainment‘s top grossing film of all time internationally – 3 IDIOTS & the third ranking international grosser of all time DON-2. This initiative of Reliance Entertainment should pave the way for opening up of Japan as a major international market for Indian films in the future".
The Japanese companies are determined to make the release of Indian films a success in order to grow the market and build long term relations. Strategizing for the same, they collaborated with the Indian Embassy in Japan and for the first time ever an international media contingent was sent to Mumbai for the promotions of these films back home.
This contingent comprised representatives from Television, Radio, Press, Magazine and online website. They had very candid and detailed interviews with Rajkumar Hirani, Priyanka Chopra, producer Ritesh Sidhwani talking about their body of work, future projects, and specifically on the Japanese release of their films.
Hindi
Remembering Gyan Sahay, the lens behind film, television and advertising
From a puppet rabbit selling poppadums to Hindi cinema, he framed it all.
MUMBAI: There are careers, and then there are canvases. Gyan Sahay, the veteran cinematographer, director, and producer who passed away on 10 March 2026 in Mumbai, had one of the latter. Over several decades in the Indian film and television industry, he turned lenses, lights, and the occasional puppet rabbit into something approaching art.
A graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune, Sahay built his reputation as a director of photography across a career that stretched from the early 1970s all the way to the digital age. He was the kind of craftsman who understood that a well-composed shot is not merely a technical achievement but a quiet act of storytelling.
For most Indians of a certain age, however, Sahay will forever be the man behind the rabbit. His direction of the iconic long-running television commercial for Lijjat Papad, featuring its now-legendary puppet bunny, gave the country one of its most cheerfully persistent advertising images. It was the sort of work that sneaks into the national subconscious and takes up permanent residence.
His big-screen credits as cinematographer include Anokhi Pehchan (1972), Pagli (1974), Pas de Deux (1981), and Hum Farishte Nahin (1988). In 1999, he stepped behind a different kind of camera altogether, making his directorial debut with Sar Ankhon Par, a drama that featured Vikas Bhalla and Shruti Ulfat, with a cameo by Shah Rukh Khan for good measure.
On television, Sahay was particularly prized for his command of multi-camera production setups, a skill that made him a go-to technician for large-scale shows and reality programmes. In an industry that has never been especially patient with complexity, he was the calm hand on the rig.
In later life, Sahay turned teacher. He participated regularly in masterclasses and Digi-Talks, often hosted by organisations such as Bharatiya Chitra Sadhna, sharing hard-won wisdom on cinematography, the comedy of timing in a shot, and the sweeping changes brought by the shift from celluloid to digital. He was also said to have been involved in a project concerning a biographical film on Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy.
Tributes from the film industry poured in following the news of his passing, with colleagues remembering him as a senior cameraman who served as a rare bridge between two entirely different eras of Indian cinema. That is, perhaps, the finest thing one can say of any craftsman: he kept up, and he brought others along with him.
